Michael Shellenberger and his colleagues have crafted this excellent statement defending freedom that is under attack from within our societies…
https://westminsterdeclaration.org/
This is why they put forth the Westminster Declaration on freedom of speech…
https://public.substack.com/p/this-is-the-most-terrifying-graph
Note also in relation to this what psychologists term “concept creep”, where the former category of “hate speech” has been extended further and further to now include the disagreeing opinions and speech of others, even comedy (note the Dave Chappelle episode), that makes some feel “uncomfortable… feeling threatened, upset…”. The minority of hyper-sensitive and easily-triggered people are trying to criminalize the disagreeing opinions and speech of majority others. Is this not totalitarianism?
More from freedom warrior Michael Shellenberger– “This video can stop totalitarianism”, Jan.15, 2024
https://public.substack.com/p/this-video-can-stop-totalitarianism
Quotes:
“Imagine for a moment that you wanted to seize control over the Internet and put in place a system of mass censorship worldwide. How would you do it?
“You wouldn’t advertise your intentions. You’d hide them. You’d claim there was a rise in hate speech and misinformation and that it was hurting vulnerable people.
“You wouldn’t take on powerful interests. You’d pick on individual citizens. You’d say that they were on the verge of committing real-world violence.
“And you wouldn’t start in a big nation. You’d find some small country to start. You’d get their politicians to go out on a limb for your agenda.
“That’s precisely what’s happening. Politicians in Ireland are, at this moment, attempting to ram through legislation that would allow the police to invade the homes of ordinary citizens, search their phones and computers, and throw them in prison for “hate speech.”
Intro note to comment below-
Note carefully the ideas in the reposted/revised articles below, and the impulses and patterns that they incite during alarmism outbreaks. Just be clear- these ideas that continue to dominate human narratives today, notably the “lost paradise/apocalypse/redemption” complex of themes, are derivative from primitive mythologies, later embraced by world religions, and now embraced in the “secular ideological” versions of our contemporary world. They continue as the most dominant and influential ideas of today’s narratives, still inciting the worst of human impulses to tribalism, domination, and punitive destruction of differing others. We are seeing the same old outcomes that affirm Arthur Mendel’s point that apocalyptic is “the most violent and destructive idea in history”.
“Primitive myths”…. Yes, that is as “core… root… foundational…” as you can go on these issues.
Learn more, fear less.
Rehash of Main site projects (just to keep in mind), Wendell Krossa
(1) Exposing the “decline of life” fraud (i.e. “the world is becoming worse”) with amassed evidence that over the long-term life is improving. We are now, on most main indicators, in the best time in history to be alive on Earth. Sources: Julian Simon (“Ultimate Resource”), Humanprogress.org, and related research.
Note: Simon published Ultimate Resource around 1986 so the data is dated. But the principles that he set forth that help us get to “the true state of life on Earth” are still highly insightful. And many follow-up studies have updated the data details on the main indicators of the state of life. Simon showed us the best of science that includes all the evidence on the thing that you are looking at (i.e. complete big picture and longest-term trends). These principles help us get past any personal “confirmation bias” tendencies.
(2) Unmasking the climate alarmism narrative with the best climate evidence. Yes, warming has occurred- a mild 1 degree C natural recovery since the descent of the world into the coldest period of our Holocene interglacial- the Little Ice Age of 1645-1715. We cannot be certain if warming will continue after the basically flatish trend of the past few decades.
Notable facts to counter current alarmism narratives: During the 1930s, heatwaves were worse than today.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/25/wheres-the-emergency/
Yes, CO2 has a warming influence/effect but that contribution is now “saturated” (a physics term) and more CO2 won’t contribute much more to any further possible warming (see research of atmospheric physicists Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and others at “co2coalition.org”. Note Javier Vinos’ research at “Wattsupwiththat.com” and at “co2coalition.org”. Example- https://co2coalition.org/2022/09/08/the-sun-climate-effect-the-winter-gatekeeper-hypothesis-vi-2/ ).
Warming is not becoming a “crisis” as there is no evidence that storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, or other natural weather events are becoming worse (see data graphs at links listed above).
(3) Disclosing the root themes/myths behind apocalyptic alarmism movements– tracing the narrative themes of the “lost paradise/apocalypse/redemption” complex to their origins in primitive mythology (Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian, etc.), their subsequent descent down to world religions, and noting that they have now shaped secular ideologies like Marxism, Nazism, and climate alarmism (research of historians Arthur Herman, Richard Landes, Arthur Mendel, David Redles, and others).
This site offers alternatives to shape new narratives of reality and life (see “Old story themes, New story alternatives” in sections below http://www.wendellkrossa.com/?p=9533 ).
(4) Lasering in on the insight of Historical Jesus that God was a stunningly unconditional reality– meaning no ultimate judgment, no ultimate exclusion of anyone, and no ultimate retaliatory, punitive justice. That revolutionary insight has been buried by Paul’s Christ myth for two millennia (assessment of Thomas Jefferson, Leo Tolstoy).
Further, the Christ myth of Paul has been the singular factor affirming the life-distorting fraud of apocalyptic, and retaliatory punitive justice, in Western narratives and consciousness. Sources: Search for Historical Jesus, Jesus Seminar, Q Wisdom Sayings gospel (Note: These sources do not affirm my particular conclusions but provide the rough context of evidence that the historical person Jesus was someone quite different from the Christian “Jesus Christ” of Paul).
Christianity has subsequently embodied the greatest contradiction ever- the most profound insight ever offered to liberate consciousness from threat theology has been distorted and buried by Paul’s Christ myth that dominates the New Testament. We inherited “Christ-ianity” not “Jesus-ianity”.
The result is cognitive dissonance taken to new heights of contradiction- distorting the Jesus insight on unconditional deity with the most extreme divine conditions ever demanded in the Christ myth- i.e. unconditional acceptance and forgiveness buried in a larger context of the supreme condition of the demanded violent bloody sacrifice of a godman as punishment/payment for all sin (see Paul’s Romans letter). You cannot reconcile or merge these profound contradictions, though Christianity has tried for two millennia.
It is highly irresponsible and damaging to human wellbeing to distort and bury the single most liberating insight in history. The Jesus insight liberates from the personality-deforming influence of threat theology (see psychotherapist Zenon Lotufo and psychologist Harold Ellens on “Cruel God, Kind God” theology). The Jesus insight further liberates from our inheritance of animal drives and offers the single most potent inspiration to the better angels of our nature- i.e. “Love your enemy because God does”, as in restorative justice approaches to human failure, and through Classic Liberal institutions/laws for organizing human societies that protect individual rights and freedoms, as opposed to the dehumanizing collectivist approaches that subordinate individuals to controlling state elites.
The Jesus insight on unconditional deity will radically transform human narratives and consciousness if presented for what it really states. No religion has ever presented the liberating reality of unconditional deity to humanity. The only area of contemporary human “spirituality” that gets this point clearly is the Near-Death Experience movement with its discovery that God is a stunningly inexpressible “unconditional love”.
Put this insight at the heart of your belief system. It transforms everything, entirely.
Read this from The Free Press and feel with these people who suffered Oct.7.
“One Hundred Days of War: Reflections from Bari Weiss, Michael Oren, Shadi Hamid, Einat Wilf, Bruno Macaes, Haviv Rettig Gur, Andrew Sullivan, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, and more”, Bari Weiss and Oliver Wiseman, Jan. 15, 2024.
And then read the consequences of the Israeli response in Andrew Sullivan’s article. This is the insanity, the horror of these endlessly repeated cycles of eye-for-eye “justice” (“just war”). The complex issues are expressed well by Sullivan.
https://www.thefp.com/p/one-hundred-days-of-war
https://www.thefp.com/p/andrew-sullivan-israel-gaza-children
Note also the response to Sullivan at the bottom of his article in the link above.
How do we maintain our own humanity in the face of evil?
Texas faced this same dangerous situation in Feb. 2021 during a power failure that killed more than 200 people and left millions without electricity. Ah, the lunacy of alarmism crusades and the destructive outcomes of their salvation schemes (i.e. to “save the world” by destroying societies through decarbonization).
Here from Wattsupwiththat.com- “How did Alberta wind up facing blackouts in the extreme cold?” Eric Worrall, Jan. 14, 2024.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/01/15/how-did-alberta-wind-up-facing-blackouts-in-the-extreme-cold/
Quotes from the link above:
“h/t cedarsand: “… at this time of year, we don’t have any solar power … Over the last couple of days, the wind has dropped off dramatically. …”
Worrall refers to another article:
“How did Alberta wind up facing blackouts in the extreme cold? A Q and A with AESO”, Jonny Wakefield, Jan.14, 2024
“We hit the demand peak on Thursday and it looked like we were going to be fine, there was no indication that we were going to be in a situation where we might have to shed load like we did last night. Suddenly 48 hours later, there’s warnings of potential brownouts and blackouts. I’m wondering how we got from a fairly stable situation on Thursday to what we experienced last night and might experience again this evening?
“With the extreme cold, we are seeing very, very high demand. We set an all-time record Thursday night, 12,384 megawatts. The key difference — and there’s never one single factor that puts us into a grid alert — it’s the extreme cold, we’ve had reduced imports and very little wind. And of course, when we get into the peak period from 4-7 p.m., at this time of year, we don’t have any solar power…
“Over the last couple of days, the wind has dropped off dramatically….”
Worrall continues, “State politicians were quick to point the main weak link was renewable energy.”
He refers to another article…
“Premiers pan green-energy plans as cold weather strains Alberta’s electricity grid”, Rob Drinkwater, Jan.15, 2024
“Right now, wind is generating almost no power. When renewables are unreliable, as they are now, natural gas plants must increase capacity to keep Albertans safe,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith posted on social media Friday, shortly after the province’s grid operator issued an appeal for consumers to conserve electricity to protect the system.
“A day later, following a second grid alert that warned of potential rotating blackouts, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe posted that surplus power it was sending Alberta’s way was coming from natural gas and coal-fired power plants.
“The ones the Trudeau government is telling us to shut down (which we won’t),” Moe said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Worral’s concluding comments:
“Wake up Canada. No amount of renewable capacity can save you, when wind and solar both fail at the same time. The only reason the Alberta grid clung to life during the wind fail is coal and gas power, from Alberta and Saskatchewan – power plants which the Federal Government is pressuring Saskatchewan to close.
“Those who continue to support Prime Minister Trudeau’s reckless crusade against reliable energy, the blood of your friends and neighbours will be on your hands.”
Put these reports in the larger context of our still too cold world where 10 times more people die from cold every year than die from any warming spells (Lancet study). Where are media on these facts?
Renewables advocates counter argue that we just need to add a lot more renewables to keep grids functioning during critical load times. But that does not solve the problem of the sun not shining and the wind not blowing. You still need fossil fuel backups.
Another illustration of the argument of this site that bad ideas (notably apocalyptic) incite and validate bad impulses and behavior, dehumanizing the zealous advocates of the bad ideas.
From Daily Skeptic https://dailysceptic.org/2024/01/15/are-environmental-activists-machiavellian/
“Are Environmental Activists Machiavellian?: The Dark side of environmental activism”, Noah Carl, Jan. 15, 2024
“In recent months, the environmentalist group ‘Just Stop Oil’ has earned a reputation for particularly deranged acts of protest, such as blocking traffic on busy roads and chucking over priceless works of art. Could such obstreperous behaviour reflect the personalities of the activists?
“In a new study, the psychologist Hannes Zacher explores what he calls the “dark side” of environmental activism…..
“… Respondents were asked to complete several personality tests. There was a test measuring the ‘dark triad’ traits (Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) – which included items such as, “I tend to manipulate others to get my way,” and “I tend to want others to admire me”. There was also a test measuring a trait called ‘left-wing authoritarianism’ – which included items such as, “The rich should be stripped of their belongings and status,” and “The ‘old-fashioned ways’ and ‘old-fashioned values’ need to be abolished”.
“What did Zacher find? Both involvement in environmental activism and support for environmental activism were positively associated with all three dark triad traits and with two aspects of left-wing authoritarianism. The correlations were not trivial either – ranging from r = .15 to r = .52. In other words, environmental activists in Germany tend toward Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, anti-hierarchical aggression and anti-conventionalism….
““The author notes that his findings support the ‘dark-ego-vehicle principle’, which suggests that “people with high levels of the dark triad traits may use activism as a means to satisfy their ego-focused needs”.
“He also points out that environmental activists may be particularly effective at changing people’s attitudes in virtue of their dark triad traits. And this seems plausible: environmentalists in Germany managed to get the country to abandon nuclear power – despite this being the only large-scale and reliable alternative to fossil fuels.”
Jim Norton on Joe Rogan
I just watched the opening of Episode 2086 of Joe Rogan with guest Jim Norton. Norton noted how so many people today just want to hate others. He said that its not even about issues but you just find someone who disagrees with you, makes a disagreeable statement or joke, and you hate them. Rogan countered that it was the stress that people are feeling.
Stress? That brought to mind- Well, for decades hysterical climate alarmists have beaten public consciousness with “the end is nigh… we’re all gonna die soon”. What do you think that relentlessly hammered apocalyptic hysteria does to human minds?
That panic mongering has kept many people’s mental strings taut to the snapping point with heightened states of anxiety/stress. Look at the children suffering “eco-anxiety”, depression, and consequent drug abuse because of their hopelessness over growing up, believing that “humanity will soon end”. Alarmists have the gall to claim that they are against “child abuse” in other areas while ignoring their contribution in this regard? Ah, cognitive dissonance, eh.
Add the young couples afraid to have children because they believe there is no future.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/11/08/victims-of-the-faux-climate-crisis-part-i-children/
This is the lunacy of the apocalyptic madness flooded into our societies via media that, unable to restrain their obsessive-compulsive addiction to negativity, constantly report on every twitch in nature as the “worst on record”, all signs that the end is nigh. Movies (public story-telling) are dominated by apocalyptic narratives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_films
Add the prophets- e.g. Al Gore, John Kerry- flying around the world in their private jets preaching that its almost too late as the final “tipping point” is now being passed on the slide down to apocalyptic ending (i.e. the unscientific nonsense that another 1.5 degree C of warming will bring on the end of days).
Bad religious ideas, like climate apocalypse, always deform human personality. See the good research of psychologists Harold Ellens and Zenon Lotufo in sections below.
With panic-mongering daily perpetuated to intolerable heights, with the consequent survival impulse agitated, hysterical panic-mongering then incites a variety of related impulses in populations. Notably, the tribal survival instinct is incited and intensified. People then retreat to their tribal groupings and look to blame some “enemy” as the threat, some disagreeing other that can be demonized for bringing on the apocalypse.
Excessively alarmed people are then rendered susceptible to the irrational salvation schemes of the crazed prophets of apocalypse. People will even be willing to reject democratic processes that are too slow to deal with what the prophets claim is the always “imminent” end of life (“imminence” in that dates are set just a few years or a decade or so up ahead). Hence, the follow-up demand for “instantaneous purging” of the purported threat, using state coercion, even violence against dissenters. (Arthur Mendel in “Vision and Violence” details well the element of “coercive purification” of purported threat, the danger of totalitarian approaches that push “instantaneous transformation” of society versus the more democratic and realistic “gradualism” approaches to improving life.)
Apocalyptic scale panic-mongering is all such a grand lie. And we (humanity) have been through so many past episodes of similar apocalyptic madness. But this contemporary eruption of apocalyptic crowd madness portends worse outcomes because it has spread worldwide with its irrational salvation scheme of decarbonization, notably infecting political leadership in many countries on both sides.
The counter to apocalyptic hysteria, crowd madness?
Spend some time on good sources like “Wattsupwiththat.com” or “co2coalition.org”. And then for the bigger background picture that helps us understand the true state of life, read the research of Julian Simon (“Ultimate Resource”), along with the many following studies on the true state of our world- i.e. Greg Easterbrook’s “A Moment On The Earth”, Bjorn Lomborg’s “Skeptical Environmentalist”, Matt Ridley’s “Rational Optimist”, Indur Goklany’s “The Improving State of the World: Why We’re Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet”, Ronald Bailey’s “The End of Doom”, Desrocher and Szurmak’s “Population Bombed” (great update of Simon’s research), Tupy and Bailey’s “Ten Global Trends”, and many more similar studies.
See also the Humanprogress.org. site that affirms that we are living in the best of all times on Earth. Panic oriented media will never tell you this.
A reposting: The patterns that unfold in apocalyptic movements: Wendell Krossa (Yes, there are repeated points made here because they are critical to understand what is happening today and how to confront and solve the problem.)
First, alarmists incite fear in populations with an apocalyptic narrative and related end-of-world scenarios. In regard to the climate alarmism crusade- They exaggerate normal climate changes and weather events all out of proportion to historical patterns as the “worst on record” (usually restricted to comparisons within the recent past- i.e. the last century or past few decades, a limited comparison period that distorts entirely the true picture of historical climate change. See data from Ian Plimer below on the massive swings in climate change during later stages of the Wisconsin glaciation just before our Holocene interglacial began with its much milder swings in climate change, between warming and cooling periods.).
The irresponsible panic-mongering over weather events arouses the survival impulse in people and renders frightened people susceptible to irrational thinking and response, even susceptible to nihilism and violence against differing others.
Then the end-times prophets present their salvation scheme with the promise that it will save the frightened people and their world from the looming catastrophe that the prophets always claim is “imminent” (The actual date of the apocalypse is usually set 5 or more years out in the future as a protective measure to allow the apocalyptic prophet time to reset the date again and again when it fails to materialize as happens 100% of the time. It also provides time for people to forget who makes such irrationally absurd claims.).
The salvation scheme usually involves making some sacrifice/payment for sin (i.e. sacrifice today demands “de-development” or the return to primitivism, the retreat to a low-consumption lifestyle as “morally superior”).
There is also the demand for the violent purging of the thing that purportedly threatens the world. Today CO2 has been isolated and lasered in on as the lead indicator of the great apocalyptic threat to life- i.e. the indicator of the purported destructiveness of industrial capitalist civilization and human greed in over-consumption, excessive use of resources (based on “limited good” mythology).
The salvation scheme also involves the incitement to tribal dualism. This means the engagement of a righteous battle against demonized “evil” enemies, playing on the primal and natural impulse of people to embrace the hero’s quest to conquer an enemy, a monster. Apocalyptic deforms the hero’s quest into a crusade against differing others, notably against skeptics to your apocalyptic narrative.
And then once the enemy is vanquished, the monster conquered, then there is the promise of hope for salvation in the restoration of the lost paradise, or installation of a new exclusionary utopia for true believers.
We have good alternatives to these narratives of despair/nihilism. Alternatives that affirm evidence-based hope. See, for example, in sections below- “Inherited bad myths, and better alternatives” for a list of suggested alternatives to the basic themes of “lost paradise/apocalypse/redemption” mythology. We have more humane alternatives to the themes of the primitive narratives that we have inherited, better ideas (cognitive behavioral therapy) to overturn the mental pathologies that have long deformed human consciousness/mind, personality, emotions, motivations, and behavior/societies.
Don’t allow yourself to be swayed by today’s so-called “secular” versions of apocalyptic that have been masking to the public as “science”. In terms of the core themes, contemporary apocalyptic (as in the climate alarmism crusade) is still primitive mythology at its worst. It is ancient mythology that was transformed into the “secular/ideological” version known as 19th Century Declinism (Arthur Herman) that has subsequently birthed offspring apocalyptic crusades like climate alarmism. Pay attention to the core themes and the patterns of these apocalyptic movements as they emerge and develop before our eyes. It is always the same old, same old irresponsible madness.
Again, learn more, and then fear less.
Another reposting- Patterns in apocalyptic movements: Destructive outcomes from alarmism crusades, Wendell Krossa
Apocalyptic millennial scholar Arthur Mendel (“Vision and Violence”) stated that apocalyptic was the most violent and destructive idea in history. Today we are living through a real-time eruption of “human-induced apocalypse” (David Redles’ point in “Hitler’s Millennial Reich”) in the destructiveness unleashed by history’s latest apocalyptic movement- the climate alarmism movement and its “human-induced” crusade to overturn the success of Western societies (too much abundance, too much resource use) by destroying their energy sectors (i.e. decarbonization, Net Zero- all in service to the larger crusade of intentional “De-development”, a return to primitivism). Is climate alarmism exhibiting the pathology of “unconsciously inducing the apocalypse” through its “salvation” scheme of decarbonization? Well, destructive nihilism has always been the inevitable consequence of apocalyptic thinking.
(Note: “Net Zero Watch” newsletters of the Global Warming Policy Forum daily update the devastation from decarbonization policies in European countries like Germany and Britain. Add the mess that is California to this list. Eco-zealotry destroys life to “save the world”. Note also Justin Trudeau’s cultic obsession with Net Zero in Canada.).
It needs to be probed: Is the destruction of Western societies perhaps more just an “unintended consequence” of the alarmist’s irrational, though otherwise ‘nobly-intentioned’ salvation scheme? That is quite likely. I would grant that possibility in the mix of motivations. As apocalyptic millennial scholar Daved Redles has said- “true believers (will) consciously or unconsciously induce the apocalypse”. So yes, “unintended” may be the more logical explanation in the mix.
True believers in some righteous crusade are often well-intentioned people, convinced by their narrative that they are heroically saving something, saving their world. I see that in Rachel Carson’s anti-chemical crusade, notably against DDT, and her sincere belief that she was saving life from her imagined and exaggerated chemical apocalypse. She probably did not imagine, nor intend, the mass-death that resulted from her influence over subsequent decades (For detail, see “The Excellent Powder: DDT’s Political and Scientific History”, Richard Tren and Donald Roberts). See also…
There is a well-known historical pattern that operates with apocalyptic millennial narratives and crusades, and if we had learned anything from history we would not be ignorantly and irresponsibly repeating this destructive pattern once again today. So yes, while “unintended” may be partly behind the alarmist’s motivation, I would be careful to not fall back on that for an excuse as the destructiveness of apocalyptic millennialism once again unfolds. We ought to know better, what with the historical examples that have occurred even over our lifetimes (i.e. the apocalyptic millennial movements of Marxism, Nazism, and general environmental alarmism).
I mean, look at what happened recently with the destruction of Sri Lankan agriculture and the similar proposals for shutting down Dutch farming, culling Irish cattle, and “always virtue-signalling” Justin Trudeau jumping the bandwagon to implement the same plan for decarbonizing Canadian agriculture. “Saving the world by destroying it”. You have to understand apocalyptic and its impact on people to make any sense of such irrationality and crowd madness.
Another reposting of previous comment- (revised) Here again is the pattern: Wendell Krossa
First, you abandon your own sanity and rationality by credulously and unquestioningly embracing primitive “lost paradise, decline toward apocalyptic, redemption, and promised millennial utopia” themes. These themes are still everywhere prominent in the major world religions and are now also embraced by varied “secular/ideological” versions like Declinism and its direct historical offspring- climate alarmism, or overall environmental alarmism. Contemporary story-telling (movies) endlessly promotes apocalyptic as unquestionable truth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_films
With apocalyptic millennialism (or “lost paradise/apocalypse/redemption”) themes ensconced in your worldview, you then view life and its ever-present nasty elements through that apocalyptic millennial lens (i.e. natural disaster, extreme weather events, disease, predatory cruelty). You also then, aflush with a sense of special awareness, begin to view yourself as some sort of enlightened insider who has seen the truth (converted true believer) and you then start to feel responsible to go forth and heroically save yourself, your people, and your world. You begin to believe that you have found a righteous cause, a “righteous battle against evil enemies/threats” that must be eliminated in order to “save the world” from imminent catastrophe. Your impulse to the hero’s quest fuels your spirit to go forth and convert the unenlightened ones all around you.
So you begin terrorizing others with your apocalyptic narrative and its exaggerated threat scenarios… for their good, of course (the poor, ignorant peasants). Today’s apocalyptic prophets have been zealously propagandizing a crusade of panic-mongering over a very mild period of natural climate change (1 degree C warming over the past century, after life descended three centuries ago into the coldest period of our Holocene interglacial- the worldwide destructive cold of the Little Ice Age.).
This hysterical panic-mongering exhibits the anti-science irrationality of apocalyptic alarmism crusades. Climate change has been very mild and beneficial in a still too cold world where 10 times more people die every year from cold than die from warmth. But such facts be damned in our “post-truth” world. They get in the way of the apocalyptic narrative and its need to exaggerate every twitch in nature as something portending the imminent end of days.
Irresponsibly inciting fear among the wider public then results in the further spread of the abandonment of rationality and a willingness of many to believe the most exaggerated and distorted scenarios of threat. Again, note the widespread practise of now portraying all extreme weather events (common all across past paleoclimate history) as ongoing affirmation of a hysterically exaggerated and irrational narrative. A narrative that is shaped by pathologically distorting mythical themes from the “lost paradise/apocalypse/redemption” or “apocalyptic millennialism” complex of myths.
“Pathologically distorting themes”? Yes, apocalyptic themes distort entirely the true state of life and the actual trajectory of life across history. I repeatedly urge visitors to read the amassed evidence in studies like Julian Simon’s “Ultimate Resource”, and numerous similar follow-up studies. See also the good research of climate physicists Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and others listed below. “The True State of the Earth” is also reposted further below.
(A further note on the apocalyptic prophet’s exaggeration of contemporary mild climate change: See paleogeologist Ian Plimer’s graph (p. 33 of “Heaven and Earth”) of the past 55,000 years of climate change and note how massive the swings in climate change were from roughly 55,000 to 20,000 years ago during the tail end of the Wisconsin glaciation (i.e. swings between cooling and warming periods of up to 25 degrees C). Then note how that previous severity of climate changes moderated significantly and became the much milder swings between warming and cooling with the beginning of our Holocene interglacial some 20,000 years ago. Subsequently, over our interglacial we have had swings between cooling and warming periods of only a few degrees. Nothing anywhere near any “climate crisis” scale of climate change. Point? To understand the “true state” of anything, place that thing in its fullest long-term context- the complete big picture.)
Continuing with “human-induced” destructive outcomes of alarmism crusades… Wendell Krossa
Populations of normally rational people, now alarmed by the apocalyptic-scale exaggerations of the climate prophets, and with their survival impulse incited, are then rendered desperate to embrace the most irrational of salvation schemes to save themselves, to save their world. Even if those salvation schemes entail the “unintended” destruction of their way of life, the destruction of their well-being and societies.
The promised hope of salvation offered by apocalyptic millennial narratives- i.e. the promise of a renewed paradise or utopian future- also helps keep alarmed populations receptive, subservient, and committed to apocalyptic millennial salvation schemes.
So yes, the apocalyptic millennial themes outlined above distort entirely the true state of life, of the world. But with exaggerated apocalyptic scenarios (manufactured monsters) they frighten people into embracing salvation schemes that “save the world” by destroying it. We know apocalyptic millennialism in its secular version today- “Declinism” (i.e. life declining toward something worse, toward collapse and ending). The direct ideological offspring of Declinism is climate alarmism. Again, see detail of how primitive apocalyptic mythology was transformed into “secular apocalyptic ideology” for the modern world in Arthur Herman’s “The Idea of Decline in Western History”.
The entirely false narrative of apocalyptic millennialism, in its contemporary Declinism incarnation, states that human industrial civilization has destroyed the former paradise of a “wilderness world” and we are now heading toward environmental collapse and even ending. This narrative of despair has deformed public consciousness and prevented people from recognizing the amazing capability of humanity to correct mistakes of the past, to learn from such mistakes, to engage new measures to protect the natural world, and the result has been the ongoing improvement of life. We are now living in the best of all times, historically.
https://www.humanprogress.org/weve-just-had-the-best-decade-in-human-history-seriously/
Some authentically progressive facts (“progressive” in the sense of life progressing toward improvement over the long-term): The human lifespan has more than doubled over the past century. Deaths from climate-related disasters are down 95% over the past century. Major diseases have been eradicated. Species are protected and flourishing. There is more forest cover on Earth today than 70 years ago (with three times the population). Poverty has been undergoing a stunning decline across the world… and much more improvement of both the human condition and the natural world (see Humanprogress.org, Ultimate Resource, etc.).
Added note:
“Enlightened elites” believe that they have been called to heroically engage righteous battles against evil, and that they know what is best for all others. And consequent to their unquestioning belief in the urgency of their cause (i.e. saving their world from an imagined “imminent” apocalypse) they justify the need for violent crushing of any dissent or opposition to their crusades. Dissent from their orthodoxy is framed and labelled as “disinformation, misinformation, mal-information, racism, fascism, Far-Right conspiracy theory…. dangerous and life threatening… a threat to democracy” etc. The outcomes of such arrogant self-righteousness have cost hundreds of millions of people their lives.
Remember the 100 million who died last century due to the forced collectivization of societies under the enlightened guidance of Socialist elites in China and Russia, and elsewhere (e.g. Cambodia.). The same outcomes are becoming distressingly evident again today with the resurgence of the coercive collectivism that is being pushed through the environmental movement and its attacks on industrial civilization- the undermining and abandonment of individual freedoms and rights (i.e. overturning the basic principles and practises of Classic Liberalism).
And a reposting from this location on this site… http://www.wendellkrossa.com/?p=10776
Summary facts to counter climate alarmism narratives;
The real enemy of humanity, the real hero’s quest to slay a monster- the monstrous mythology of apocalyptic declinism;
Core themes of lost paradise/apocalyptic/redemption mythology (the ideas and impulses);
Patterns in apocalyptic alarmism movements;
Did you really leave your religion? (The endless regurgitation of mythical themes in newer “secular/ideological” versions);
The true state of life on earth- data on main indicators;
And more…
“The more we learn about climate (i.e. natural cycles of constant change, the dominant and complex influence of natural factors, the limited role of CO2 (the actual proven physics of CO2), the larger paleoclimate context, etc.), the less susceptible we will be to alarmist hysteria over natural climate change”, Wendell Krossa.
General site project– Go after and counter the core themes/myths of alarmism narratives from across history- i.e. the “lost paradise/redemption” complex of primitive myths. Particularly, counter the latest historical eruption of this “apocalyptic/millennial” complex- i.e. the “profoundly religious” climate alarmism crusade.
New from below: Read this as if your life depended on it, because it does. This is where governing elites are taking countries- back to dangerous primitivism (“de-development”). They are doing this without public debate, not permitting democratic choice. Politicians and other elites (scientific, entertainment), now possessed with hysteria over a narrative of looming apocalypse, have dismissed the democratic process to coercively enforce their vision of Green salvation on all others (i.e. pushing ESG in through the back door of the business world, avoiding public debate and democratic vote). Net Zero decarbonization has all the features of just another historical eruption of a “madness of crowds” episode.
Consequent to decarbonization, the only real decline in life is the decline in human standards of living.
From Tilak Doshi, “Luxury Beliefs And Energy Policy: The Fatal Conceit”, Forbes, April 16, 2023
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/04/16/luxury-beliefs-and-energy-policy-the-fatal-conceit/
Quotes: (see below…)
“Decarbonization, Net Zero, de-development…”. Here’s what it means…. A return to primitivism, collectivism, and the consequent totalitarianism of alarmism crusades.
The very best climate science reports and news:
Climate facts before moving into the commentary further below (i.e. “The human meaning impulse and the consequent creation of the pathology of “lost paradise/redemption” mythologies, and the horrific influence of such myth on human lives and societies”)….
Summary facts to counter the climate alarmism narrative:
Contrary to endless media exaggeration, distortion of the true state of things, and outright lying- Storms, floods, heatwaves, droughts, tornadoes, wildfires are not becoming more frequent and intense. In some cases, they are declining in frequency and intensity (see links below). More people are not dying from climate change but, to the contrary, there has been a 95% decrease in climate-related deaths over the past century.
The fact that ought to concern us all is that 10 times more people still die from cold every year, than die from warmth (Lancet study in Lomborg report below). Our still abnormally cold world (we are still at the coldest period of our Holocene interglacial) is the far greater threat to life. Yes, our current world is cold compared to the Phanerozoic history of life when average world temperatures were 3-6 degrees C warmer than today and all life thrived.
Sea level rise remains at the same slow rate of most of our Holocene interglacial. Ocean islands are not disappearing but, contrary to alarmism narratives, most have actually increased in size https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/04/15/tropical-paradise-islands-are-not-sinking-and-shrinkingmost-are-in-fact-growing/. Polar bears are not endangered as populations have increased and flourished significantly over the past half century. The Great Barrier Reef is doing fine.
This is all to say- there is no “climate crisis/emergency”. And the common sense conclusion from the evidence- There is no sound scientific reason to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies.
Islands of Truth Emerging from the Murky Depths of “Sea Level Science”
https://co2coalition.org/facts/the-last-interglacial-was-8c-14f-warmer-than-today/
https://co2coalition.org/2022/10/13/bbc-polar-bear-propaganda-melts-under-analysis/
https://co2coalition.org/2022/08/11/the-great-barrier-reef-is-doing-great-people-should-know/
And much more at the linked sites above (“very best climate science reports and news”)…
All to say- Stop kowtowing to the climate alarmism narrative and crusade. End the mindless affirming of its false assumptions and exaggerations/lies. Yes, climate is changing. Yes, the world has warmed a mild 1 degree C over the past century. Yes, CO2 has a small warming effect/influence. No one denies such facts.
Climate has always changed in cyclical patterns that are explained mainly by varied natural factors. And the mild warming of the past few centuries has been significantly beneficial to all life in our sub-optimally cold world where far more people die every year from cold than die from warmth. Life would benefit even more from a further 3-6 degrees C warming that was the average during most of the Phanerozoic era (last 500 million years) when all life emerged, developed, and flourished. Yes, you heard that right. That much warmer world was the “original paradise” that life has lost. (See the research on the Eocene warm period- “the golden age of mammals”- by Donald Prothero, “The Eocene-Oligocene Transition: Paradise Lost”)
These facts need to be stated bluntly to jolt alarmists back to common sense and to counter the hysterical exaggeration and distortion of the alarmist claim that another 1-2 degrees C warming pushes life toward purported catastrophe, collapse, and ending. That is absolute ‘Alice in Wonderland’ upside-down nonsense.
Extra heat radiation coming into the tropics does not cause already warm tropical areas to “ignite on fire and fry”. Contrary to Al Gore’s hysterical claim that the “oceans will boil”, tropical temperatures have remained “remarkably stable” over paleoclimate history, even when average world temperatures were 10 degrees C warmer than today. This “equable climate” issue confounds climate alarmists and points to negative feedbacks that keep climate within a range that is beneficial to life.
Extra tropical heat is transported (“meridional transport”) to the colder regions of earth to even out climate across the world (“Sun-Climate Effect: Winter Gatekeeper hypothesis” https://co2coalition.org/2022/08/09/the-sun-climate-effect-the-winter-gatekeeper-hypothesis-part-i/. See all the reports in this excellent series on the complex of natural factors that influence climate change).
That spread of warming to the colder areas of the world is beneficial to all life with extended habitats for more diverse life forms and increased agricultural production for humanity. Further global warming brings life-saving benefits as far more lives are saved from cold deaths than are lost from any increased deaths due to warming.
https://twitter.com/BjornLomborg/status/1418916412802965511?lang=en
https://financialpost.com/opinion/bjorn-lomborg-climate-change-and-deaths-from-extreme-heat-and-cold
Add that the small rise in CO2 over the past century or so has resulted in the addition of 15% more green vegetation to the Earth since 1980 (meaning- much more food for animals across the world). And current CO2 levels are still far below the multiple thousands of ppm that were the average over the past history of life. The doubling of CO2 from 400 to 800 ppm would take about 200 years at the current rise of about 2 ppm per year. Climate physicists tell us this increase in CO2 levels “might” contribute to a further mild increase in warming. “Might” is the key word here. Because varied other natural influences on climate have always shown stronger correlations to climate change. Other natural factors consistently overwhelm the small CO2 influence.
The “physics of CO2” is the key issue in the climate debate and that evidence affirms that there is no climate crisis and hence no sound reason to tax carbon or decarbonize our societies.
https://co2coalition.org/2023/01/24/in-search-of-a-near-perfect-co2-global-warming-analogy/
C. S. Lewis’s warning in relation to the moralizing busybodies who believe that they alone know what is right and best for all others and will seek to coerce and control others, often via state force:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to heaven yet at the same time make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals”.
The personal safeguard to the self-delusion of being solely right… Hold fast to Classic Liberal principles re the protection of individual rights and freedoms, as against the ever-creeping totalitarianism of collectivist approaches that subject individuals to some claimed “greater good or common good” that has to be managed by “enlightened elites” who believe that they alone know what is best for all other and will use coercion to control others.
This site is a Daddy project, to reassure the kids that there is no monster. Wendell Krossa
There is no ultimate monster, no threatening deity punishing us for our imperfections through the harmful elements of the natural world- whether natural disasters, accidents, disease, or predatory cruelty. This mythology of punitive deity behind the nasty elements of the world has always been central to belief systems. Paul affirms this fallacy to the Corinthians that God punishes people for their sins with sickness and death.
The harmful elements of the natural world are all the “natural consequence” features of living on an imperfect planet.
Further, there will be no apocalypse, as in a divine intervention to punish humanity for being imperfect. Add that there is no monstrous threat of after-life harm- as in a final divine judgment, separation and exclusion of some (unbelievers), and then fiery destruction in hell. Ultimately, all are safe.
And there is no temporal monster either as in Declinism ideology and its claims of life declining toward something worse, life heading toward collapse and ending. Julian Simon showed us how to research and understand the true state of life, the true state of the world, by looking at the best sources of evidence regarding the main indicators on the state of the world- i.e. notably, forests, land species, soils, and ocean fisheries.
And note especially the long-term trends with regard to each of the main indicators.
Yes, said Simon, there are problems everywhere, but humanity is doing well solving problems and protecting nature while also improving the human condition to where we are now in the best time ever to be alive.
See “Humanprogress.org”, among other sources.
You wouldn’t know the above true state of the world from daily news media that obsessively scrounge for anything negative, then exaggerate that all out of proportion to reality, hysterically propagandizing us with the endless meme that we’re all gonna die…. The world is going to hell in a handbasket, and hence we must embrace some hair-brained salvation scheme to “save the world”. Everything is “the worst on record”.
That panic-mongering incites the survival impulse in populations, and arouses the associated tribal impulse where people then begin demonizing one another as the cause of the looming apocalypse. Hysterical advocates of apocalypse then demand that dissenters to the apocalyptic narrative be purged (censored, silenced, banned, even criminalized) as intolerable threats to life. The alarmists demand that all must embrace the irrational sacrifice/atonement schemes that “destroy life to save it”. They then promise utopian outcomes if all give the knee to their lunacy.
From chapter 69 of Walter Isaacson’s “Elon Musk”.
Isaacson notes that Musk has taken up the cause of battling what he considers the excesses of political correctness and the woke culture of progressive social-justice activists because he considers the woke-mind virus to be fundamentally anti-science, anti-merit, and antihuman in general.
In his interview with the Babylon Bee Musk said, “Wokeness wants to make comedy illegal, which is not cool… Trying to shut down Dave Chappelle, come on, man, that’s crazy. Do we want a humorless society that is simply rife with condemnation and hate and no forgiveness? At its heart wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It gives people a shield to be mean and cruel, armed with false virtue….”
“This woke-mind virus resides primarily in the Democratic Party, even though most Dems don’t agree with it”.
Isaacson notes that Musk claims to be a centrist moderate with a libertarian streak. “To be clear, I support the left half of the Republican party and the right half of the Democratic Party”, says Musk.
The dangerous period following the failure of apocalyptic prophesies (see link below to Jimmy Dore video of Al Gore’s intensifying rage as the latest COP28 fails to produce drastic action to decarbonize our world).
“Millennialism is above all a moral critique of the world and… invariably includes a moral message that, on the one hand, demands a sacrifice, but on the other, assures believers that they are the truly righteous”, Richard Landes, p.112, “Heaven on Earth: The varieties of the Millennial Experience”.
Landes is good on the danger when the apocalypse does not show up. How do apocalyptic zealots then re-adjust to a return to normal life? They don’t. Landes says, “The bigger the bridges you burn on your way out, the harder to return to that normal time and to that society you thought was about to pass away.”
The onset of disappointed apocalyptic prophesies leads to resetting dates, to the depths of depression and doubt, to facing that the admission of failure means loss of face and loss of status in your culture, a social demotion, suicides, the awareness of the horror that you brought to others, and that you were a fool for listening to lies.
And with some it leads to “doubling down”. As was noted about one apocalyptic prophet facing the failure of his prophesies, “He had doubts but that having started with this thing, he was determined to see it through”, p.113.
Thus begins “the most terrible path any apocalyptic movement can take”, scapegoating and blaming the unbelievers along with push for more drastic action. “With each disappointment, believers, instead of questioning the prophecy, questioned the behavior of their own half-hearted supports and their opponents”. Apocalyptic disappointment produces more aggression and demands, “encouraging still more extensive and wanton destruction” (p.118).
Note this example of an enraged Al Gore pushing for more drastic action… now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIStuCYDVKs
As Landes continues, “More terrible consequences are added to already catastrophic beliefs… this path, so often trod by millennial movements in their moment of crisis, represents the key issue for the policy implications of millennial studies. At some moment, some millennial groups that have achieved even a modicum of success in their first, voluntaristic and enthusiastic stage, turn from a discourse of egalitarianism, free choice, and fair play to one of coercive purity in which the previously unthinkable- hierarchy, aggression, violence, mass murder- becomes increasingly central. In post-apocalyptic disappointment, a transformative scenario based on harmonious cooperation… becomes a negative-sum rage to force the solution, to carve the millennial kingdom out of the very body social….
The lesson that Landes offers is beware “this violent, scapegoating response to prophetic failure… violence and hatred released in order to survive”.
And an interesting quote:
George Orwell, “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
“The most important speech Jordan Peterson has ever done”, a refocus on service to others
“Dave Rubin: This is easily the most important speech Jordan Peterson has ever done” (from the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTS57hkAUk
While the initial part of the speech covered other issues, Peterson, near the end, discusses sacrifice and service for others as crucial to our true identity.
Peterson states that psychologists have discovered over the past 20 years- “That there is no difference between thinking about yourself and being miserable”.
Earlier in this speech he had noted that people today are lost in their immediate gratification, in gratifying their own hedonistic desires- intensely self-oriented.
He then illustrated this point on being too self-absorbed, saying that, for example, when we become self-conscious in the presence of others we then drown in anxiety and lose our place. He says that young people today are taught nothing but to be self-conscious, to do nothing but think about their immediate needs, to refer to themselves as the locus of all things. Peterson says there is nothing that you could do to make them more miserable than to live like that.
You want to be outside yourself, he continues, serving a higher purpose, making sacrifices for others and that is so rewarding.
This is the meaning and adventure and purpose of life, says Peterson, and it gives us proper self-regard, this sacrifice for others. This is remembering who we really are.
Note: In another talk on dealing with the common affliction of anxiety, Peterson had noted that if we are going to meet with some people or group and are feeling self-consciously anxious, then orient your mind to how you might help those other people, how to contribute to making their lives better in some way. Re-orient your mind away from yourself and put your focus on others, serving them. Go into situations thinking of how to benefit others, to ask others questions about themselves.
And this on the widespread child abuse today from irresponsible climate alarmism
“When Climate Change Education becomes Child Abuse”, Kip Hansen, Jan.17, 2024
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/01/17/when-climate-change-education-becomes-child-abuse/
Quotes:
“Climate Kids presents itself as an educational tool to teach children, at the grade school level, about Climate Change. It is produced by the Earth Science Communications Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology ….
“Here’s the text from their “Sea Level” page graphic:
“SEA LEVEL: What if it keeps rising this fast?
“The global average sea level has risen over 7 inches in the past 100 years. A few inches may not seem like much, but every inch of sea level rise covers 50-100 inches of beach. If the ice keeps melting, global sea level could rise more than 20 feet. That would put a lot of coastlines under water. Whole islands could disappear!”…
“Imagine that you are a 4th grader – 9 or 10 years old — living in Miami. You are told explicitly that if things keep going as they have been going, you, you family, your friends, your school and your entire city are going to die by being submerged under 20 feet of water.
“That, my dear friends, is blatant child abuse according to the definitions of child abuse of the CDC which says of child abuse and neglect:
“This issue includes all types of abuse and neglect of a child under the age of 18 by a parent, caregiver, or another person in a custodial role (such as a religious leader, a coach, a teacher) that results in harm, the potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.”
“For a Miami Beach school district teacher in a 4th grade class to teach 9 and 10-year-olds that they are under a death sentence from climate change due to present rate of sea level rise:
“1. Is a lie. The question is “What if it keeps rising this fast?” The true answer is “In 100 more years, the sea level will rise another 7 inches.” The more correct answer, according to our present understanding of global sea level rise, is about 8-12 inches in the next century.
“2. It is also a lie to imply that the answer to the question is “the sea could rise more than 20 feet” and submerge Miami.
“3. It is not just a lie – not just Climate Crisis propaganda – it is by definition child abuse.
“I would correct this page as follows:
“The corrected text reads:
“The global average sea level has risen over 7 inches in the past 100 years.
Depending on the slope of a beach, one inch of sea level rise can cover more
than an inch of beach. If sea level keeps rising this fast – 7 or 8 inches per century
then in another 100 years, sea level will rise another 7 or 8 inches. For low lying
areas, this can cause problems. To reach the level shown in red in the map
below, it would take 34 centuries or 3,400 years.”
“Author’s Comment:
“Absolutely appalling. It is this type of thing, which has been ongoing for years, that leads to the emotionally anxious and dysfunctional children who have grown up and now attend universities around the world. Some of these dysfunctional children now teach in those universities and our public schools. This is the opposite of education, it is dumbification– making our children less educated and less well-informed.”
Read this Canadians. Jordan is pissed. Really, really pissed. Go Jordan, go.
Quotes (see full article at link above):
“Jordan Peterson: Bureaucrats will rue the day they tried to shut me up
“The petty tyrants at the Ontario College of Psychologist have no right to force me in to re-education”, Published Jan 17, 2024
“In November 2022, the administrative board that regulates the conduct of psychologists (and much more than that, it turns out) decided that my political views were a disgrace to my profession, that of clinical psychologist. I was therefore sentenced by that board, the Ontario College of Psychologists, to a bout of mandatory re-education, of indeterminate duration, at my expense, with my learning not evaluated by any standard method but subject to the opinion of those charged with, profiting by and exploiting my forced studentship.
Jordan protested that decision and lost court appeals over it.
“Thus, I face two choices. I can comply, when the College goes ahead with its determination to require my re-education, dutifully attend whatever bloody classes their DEI-enthusiast “social media experts” (whatever those are) determine to inflict upon, confess the sins of my classic liberal/conservative or even Judeo-Christian political, philosophical and theological commitments, repent and silence myself — or even become a standard-bearer for the faux-compassionate woke cause, at least publicly. Alternatively, I can tell my would-be masters to go directly to the hell they are so rapidly gathering around themselves and everyone else, lose my right to practice or even to describe myself as a psychologist, and suffer the consequences on the reputation front:
“Canadian psychologist Jordan B Peterson, disgrace to his profession, forfeits his formal licence, in consequence of his crimes.”…
“This is where the reader should pay careful attention, Canadian or otherwise, because this is what lies ahead in the West… if what I have done and said constitutes the equivalent of a professional crime, you can be sure that your own head is full of like transgressions, regardless of your political stance, and your own tongue therefore likely to spill the beans.
His crimes…
“I criticized three Canadian political leaders… (He adds this note on Canada’s Prime Minister)… a man who has done more to destroy my country than anyone else…
“(Further) I pointed out the shortcomings of the idiot costly self-aggrandizing virtue-signaling demoralizing lie of the power-mad climate apocalypse-mongers — that on Joe Rogan’s podcast, the entire three-plus-hour transcript of which (!) was submitted to my College as evidence of my disgraceful conduct.
“(His) crimes were reported on the publicly accessible Ontario College of Psychologist website informer page not by anyone who had ever been a beneficiary of my professional services, or any people that knew them, or any of the people directly criticized, or by anyone who knew them, or even (in the main) by citizens of Ontario, my home province, or Canada. They were instead brought to the attention of the “authorities” by activists in other countries, many of whom also lied in writing, claiming that they were in fact clients of mine….
“Here’s the point:
“Canadians, mark my words: Your much-vaunted Charter of Rights isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, as one of its last remaining signatories has been continually striving to indicate. Your right to free speech is essentially non-existent…
“Your tax load is going to continue to increase, and rapidly. Your economy is predicted to be the worst performing of any developing country for the next three decades— and that failure will be trumpeted, positively, as the “degrowth” necessary to save the planet (thus so conveniently providing those who, like Trudeau, have no interest in monetary policy to parade their ignorance and Machiavellian idiocy as a positive virtue: “I’m saving the planet” is a get-out-of jail free card for any and all crimes and justification for a grab for power the likes of which we have never seen….
“Fighting these pathetic demons has already cost me weeks of work and close to a million dollars. Are you, fellow Canadian professionals, feeling up to that task? I thought not — and have seen very little evidence of courage or ability from you on that front.
“So we can just imagine where that will leave the typical Canadian, who dares to speak his or her mind….
“Are you listening, Canadians? If you refuse to abide by rules so radically leftist that they would have been and were in fact eschewed until recently by the outright socialist Canadian New Democratic Party your opinions have now become outright illegal….”
He notes of the Woke Progressive crusade as “the dismal, fearful, pessimistic, moralizing, petty, butter-won’t-melt in our mouths hellish straits that you envision as the paradise best fit for your fellow citizens, yourselves and your children….
He concludes: “So far I have been constrained in my response to your pushing and prodding and overlord-nagging by the requirement not to compromise my efforts on the legal side. But that’s all over with, now, isn’t it? So there are no holds barred, as far as I am concerned. And it may be that you have nothing better to do with your nasty narrowly-circumscribed micromanaging bodies and souls than to cause me trouble. But we’re going to perform that dance on the international stage, with all that light shining on your machinations, and you may well come to rue the day you attempted to take possession of my tongue.”
National Post